10 exquisite jewellery watches for men and women that are worth splurging on in 2023

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Their merits are many: Diamonds and gemstones have a high intrinsic value that, when added to watches, renders them automatically investment-worthy. And improvements in gem setting techniques have amped up the dazzle factor. Increasingly, there’s been a greater interest in jewelled watches for men—top brands like Bulgari are now introducing jewelled pieces designed for male consumers.

Setting gems into a timepiece is a task as demanding as any that a master watchmaker faces when assembling a grand complication. Techniques have evolved in recent years, with the aim of creating maximum brilliance when light enters a diamond and bounces off one of the side or lower facets at just the right angle. The more metal that surrounds the stone, the more it will absorb rather than reflect light, so the idea is to minimize the metal, either by using a variation of the raised prong setting or cutting away some of the metal around the gems.

It's an alternative to the convention of setting gems directly into the case, surrounded by metal on all sides. A jewellery watch can take hundreds of hours to set—it might be easier, and faster, to make a minute repeater.Jewellery watches hold or appreciate value because diamonds and gemstones are commodities in their own right that can be sold separately. They add intrinsic value to a watch, giving them an edge on the secondary market.

“We are seeing more jewelled timepieces at auction,” says Rémi Guillemin, head of watches for Christie’s Europe. “Many men’s as well as women’s wristwatches are now bejewelled. They are now part of the catalogues of many more manufacturers due to the increasing demand from collectors for these models.